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48 Parrots Rescued, Monument, CO

Early yesterday morning, my husband Andy and I loaded up the car after getting notice that multiple parrots needed our help in Monument, CO. 48 parrots, mostly large species, had been forceably removed from the home of a hoarder who had admitted that the birds were not getting the kind of care they would have liked. The family wanted to give up a fraction of her flock at first, then half, and eventually, she was talked into giving up the entire group. These birds, including cockatoos, macaws, amazons, and conures were all free flighted in a crowded, dimly lit basement and because they were all allowed to mingle unsupervised, a great majority of the birds had become handicapped from getting into fights with one another. We were not able to take on the entire project, but we offered to take in those that would be medically difficult or those difficult to place to aleviate some of the burden. Sadly, many of the parrots were elderly, more than a handful were missing beaks and toes, and an overwhelming majority of the population had feather distruction issues. A family who lived nearby agreed to take on the rescue but they have around 300 of their own birds and were already feeling quite overwhelmed and we felt that with a much smaller flock, our rescue might be able to add some extensive and specialized care to the situation.

When we arrived in Monument, we peeked in to find rows and rows of cages, where each of these birds were experiencing cleanliness, good food, and real sunshine for the first time in many, many years. Toys had not yet been added, but it was clear to us that these folks had been working around the clock to make their new guests comfortable. Among the birds was a soft eyed hyacinth macaw who had plucked himself bare. He was instantly interested in Andy and started to regurgitate for him after being offered some banana chips. An amazon parrot came out of her cage so gently for her rescuer and I could not help but smile at her as her entire head had been plucked clean, leaving only a few sprigs of blue feathering by her nares. They told us that this one must have once been a bird belonging to a school teacher as she said "Hello boys and girls, please take your seats" as well as a few other school related things. Down the rows and at the end was a beautiful, soft hearted umbrella cockatoo, just waiting for the journey to lead him some place good. We could tell he was extra special. A pair of goffins huddled together in the corner, hoping not to be noticed and a female eclectus trilled as we passed her cage. 8 of these parrots would be coming home with us and we hoped that we would be able to offer them the very best and longed to show them how special they really are. When we finnished visiting, the family asked us if we would also take a dozen ringneck doves off their hands as they were having a hard time giving them away. We do not usually work with non hookbills but these guys seemed sweet and I have good connections with a few wonderful wildlife rescuers in NM, so we agreed to transport them back to Albuquerque where a kind stranger would be waiting to take them in and baby them.

We didn't return to Albuquerque with our angels until late in the evening and we knew the vet would be waiting for us early in the morning. Tomorrow was going to be a long day for certain with vet visits and new cages to set up. We made sure everyone had fresh food and water before bed, whispering sweet 'I love yous' as we carefully opened their carrier doors. They knew they were safe and we felt blessed to be a part of that comfort. It brought me joy to know that in just a short while, I would be getting to know these precious little ones, one on one, and I knew that I would come to cherish each of them as we learned together. The trip had certainly been worth it.

Before going to pick up the Monument Flock, I was alerted that many of the ones I was volunteering to take were untame and had some medical problems. I could not have been prepared for the extent of the medical trauma that each bird had suffered in their last home and it shows that hoarding is truly a disease where even the most gracious and kind hearted of people become blind to the destruction that they are causing. The following stories and images are graphic or desturbing, so please view with caution.

Apache is a 38 year old mitred conure who continues to fight the good fight despite having had multiple strokes that have left him weak and unable to balance properly. Apache scoots along the floor and sides of his cage, being sure to hang on with both feet and his beak. He is blind in one eye and at one point, he sustained a beak injury that caused his beak to rott. The problem was eventually corrected, but it has left a permanent notch in Apache's beak. He also is permanently missing his flight feathers and we are unsure if this was a birth defect or caused by humans. Apache will never fly. We were told that this fellow was once used as a breeder, until his mate tried to kill him (after the strokes), and that he was very aggressive. Still, Apache stepped right up for me after blowing kisses at me through the bars, and I knew it was instant love when I heard that sweet little voice.

The notch in Apache's beak, where part of the lower mandible had rotted away. We will see if we can work some magic on this beak to get the lower mandible to start to grow a little more normal:

Apache's missing flight feathers are the same on both wings. I thought at first the flights were just stunted, but my vet says these are coverts only:

Testing Apache's grip. He has strong grasp in his feet - he just falls forward and backward a lot, as if he was drunk. He could noy possibly look more ticked off in this photo!:

Cherry headed conure "Derby" is a little love muffin and her rescuer warned us that she would take our hearts if we let her come home with us. Sure enough, Derby is already warming our hearts with her sugary sweet little voice and her gentle nature. We are baffled as to how this creature is still capable of such love and devotion. This little gal is plucking and likely had a very overgrown upper mandible that broke off recently, causing the quick at the tip of her beak to be exposed when it broke off. This should resolve fairly quickly so that Derby will not be in any more pain. It looks like Derby has been plucking for a number of years and it may always stay that way, but she is sure to win over a new family fairly quickly, naked or not.

This little red head is naked and proud!:

Here you can see where Derby's beak had broken off sometime recently, likely due to a major overgrowth of the upper mandible:

We were warned that red front macaw "Aurora" was a spit fire, so I was a bit shocked to coax her out of the carrier this morning with a little bit of baby talk and an accepted offer to step onto my hand. A little nervious, she quickly scooted over, pressed herself against my chest and burried her fluffy face into my arm - raising her cheek feathers to solicit a little rub, and shut her eye. There is nothing spicy about this bird except for what's left of her bright orange feathers. I could tell right away by the loss of dark pigmentation on her feet that she was an older bird, though she had not yet been hit with arthritis, which seemed a good sign to me. It was obvious to all that this lovely jewel had plucked herself naked though it looked like there were some good folicles left if she ever decided to stop plucking. My vet estimated this old lady to be around 40 and she has a cateract in her left eye which cases her to be blind on that side. While doing the exam, we found evidence that Aurora had been fighting with other birds - chunks of flesh were missing from the webbing in both wings and it felt like she had sustained at least one broken wing at one point, with both wings being very stiff and hard for Aurora to fully extend. We will have to do some work with her wings to see if we can build some strength, despite those old injuries and I hope she will be able to fly again some day.

Isn't she just lovely?

A war wound that has been healing for some time now - likely the result of being biten by another parrot:

Another wound healing, Aurora's vet thinks this was irritated due to difficulty in extending the wing:

Isabel is likely the saddest case out of all of the parrots taken from the Monument hoarding situation. Please skip her story if you are faint of heart. Once a beautiful scarlet macaw, Isabel is now a tattered mess and was not showing her rescuer that she had much to live for. The rescuer was told that Isabel had more than half a dozen tumors all over her body and that the masses were likely cancer and instructed her to put the bird down immediately. The bird was completely docile and her rescuer assumed that she was in a lot of pain due to her behavior and agreed that she should be put to sleep. When she mentioned the bird to me, I implored her to get a second opinion before deciding the bird's fate - maybe something could be done, especially as this macaw was only supposed to be in her early 20's. They politely declined my offer and though this made me sad, I tried to make peace with my feelings.

To my surprise, Isabel was still there when we arrived and they told me that they had reconsidered my offer and that they wanted me to take her, so she could get a second opinion. I didn't really see any tumors on the bird when I looked her over, but she looked very sick and weak, and could hardly hold her head up. I worried that she might not even make it home, but later learned that she had been given high doses of morphine for the suspected pain. Once the drugs wore off, I discovered a beautiful, curious little soul there inside of this tattered, crippled body and she was hungry, too!!!

When I took Isabel to the vet this AM, the first words out of my mouth as I scooped her out of the carrier were "Please don't put her to sleep! We have to help her!" I explained the situation but my vet also could not find any tumors and the bird was not at all underweight. Instead we found some other abnormalities, though we are unsure at this time whether this is better or worse for Isabel. We are not sure how or why someone felt the bird had cancer. After a physical exam and several x-rays, we concluded that this macaw has a lot of defects that she was likely born with. She is blind in both eyes except for maybe seeing only a small amount of light on one side and has likely always been that way. She has a crooked spine in her rump and had a massive break to one of her legs at one point, causing the bone to heal side by side instead of in a properly set position. It looks as if Isabel may never have developed folicles to grow a tail or they have been so badly chewed that evidence of them is gone. Because of the defects and injuries, it is hard for this bird to stand upright (even though that leg is weight baring) and there is a lot of pressure on her haunches, causing bumble foot (flat feet) and pressure sores. Some of the few feathers she does have left are growing in crooked and some of the shafts seem to have grown, developed wrong, or rotted - causing weird flakes of yellow skin to cluster around the feather shafts and on her body near those affected shafts. Her preen gland also had likely become infected and was left untreated, and it too had turned rotten until it was no longer functional. Now her feathers are lacking the essential oil they need to be healthy and are fragile and stringy. Many of them are missing altogether. Because of some of these strange feather patterns, we are somewhat concerned that Isabel could have an unusual case of PBFD, so we are taking extra precautions until her test comes back. If she does not have the disease, my vet feels very hopeful that there are many things we can do to physically rehab Isabel so that she is not so uncomfortable inside such a complicated body. What really makes this parrot special is that we feel that along with her physical handicaps, she may also be a bit mentally handicapped as well as she does not seem fully able to reason or to understand her situation. Instead she acts blissfully unaware (maybe also due to the blindness), facing everything with a beautiful optimism that is touching and inspiring. This is an exceptional bird and we feel that she has a lot of love to give if only we can help her to feel more comfortable and healthy. We are eager to see what kind of progress Isabel makes over the next couple of months and we will keep everyone posted on her care.

Isabel getting some scritches by her vet:

A wound that has accumulated a lot of old, dead, flakey skin. Possibly an area that become dry and cracked and then began to rott. It is clear that Isabel has some skin issues that should be further studied:

Funny looking, rotten feather shafts that are growing near the preen gland. Large accumulations of dead skin formed where tail folicles would have been. New skin underneath is raw:

What is left of the rotten, dead, and unusable preen gland:

Pressure sores on Isabel's haunches from lack of movement. My vet thinks that a routine of encouraging the bird to move around will improve many of her conditions:

Preparing Isabel for a blood draw so we can have a better idea of what is going on inside of her:

Resting in her incubator at home - my vet thinks this will be the most comfortable thing for her for now while she adjusts and also the safest in the event that she is carrying disease:

Red lored amazon Wooton was terrified when we tried to get her into the carrier to take her home, but once we arrived, she decided that maybe we aren't really so scary after all, and allowed me to step her up and give her a little scritch. I can tell that this little bird is a real softy and will be a pleasure for whoever adopts her. She is missing some feathers, especially on the top of her head, and she is also missing a few of her toes on one foot. She was grossly overweight at one time, but has since lost that weight and has a fatty mass in her chest that will likely go away with time. We are particularly interested to hear back about her bloodwork to see if there are any trends that would explain such weight loss. She is not a thin bird now, but I always worry knowing that they weighed much more at one point.

Missing a few feathers on top kind just makes her look extra sweet, but we are hoping to see her really bloom under our care:

Preparing Wooton for her blood draw at the vets. not much fun for poor birdies but this little one was very forgiving:

Wooties little nails had been left undone long enough for them to make it around full circle. She is missing a few of the other toes so my vet joked that the nail trim would be half off:

Eden is a very shy little umbrella cockatoo who was likely used as a breeder. He has been busy destroying his feathers, but it looks like he barbers them more than he pulls them. His tail feathers are a bit banged up but this is because the little fellow is missing one of his feet and his other is grossly deformed. He does not seem to adapt quite as well with his disability as some of the other footless parrots we have worked with and almost seems embarrassed or afraid to show us his weakness. He gets around fairly well and can even perch on special types of wood (when no one is looking.) We are really hoping to help Eden to become less shy, though right now he is unbelievably afraid of anything or anyone who comes near him.

Eden's little "feet":

Please don't stick me! I promise i'm a good boy!:

Poking his little head out of the towel, we can tell the desire to be loved is there. It's just going to take this little one some time to learn to trust, and that's ok!:

Westcliffe is most likely going to be our biggest challenge as he could not possibly be even an ounce more wild than he is and we feel so sorry for him. He is a much older red lored amazon - likely wild caught - and still acts very much like it. He has a cateract which does not help him to feel less suspicious of others and at one time he sustained an injury to his beak, leaving him without half his lower mandible. Westcliffe can eat and drink ok, though I imagine this took a little bit of adaptation on his part. Westcliffe really did not travel well and he had a bunch of bruises from thrashing in his carrier on the way home. Now that he is home, we have promised him a nice, safe corner to hide out in and as much time as he needs to come around.

Westcliffe's lower mandible beak injury:

Trinity is a very sweet yellow crowned amazon who will take a little bit of work to learn to trust, but she is already making great progress with stepping up after lots of praise and encouragement. Trinity has a burst air sac which leaks air into her cheek. This makes her look like she has a giant tumor or something of a more serious nature, but really the problem does not affect her health and the vet does not think it makes her uncomfortable. Sometimes these issues are able to be fixed surgically, but the risk of this surgery greatly outweighs the benefits, especially since the issue is not causing her discomfort - so the lump will stay. Aside from that, this sweety pie will hopefully come to enjoy good food, a lot of love and some good bathes that will really help to smooth out her ratty feather condition.

Trinity getting weighed at the vets:

Trinity showing us her puffy cheek!:

Overall we feel blessed to be able to help each of these little birdies and look forward to the progress that they make while under our care. We were able to get the 12 doves we brought back to their new rescue person and we hope that they will each find loving homes too!

If you would like to help any of these birds, we are in dire need of dollars for vet care as we will be doing whatever we can to pay off the total cost of vet care for these little feathered ones as soon as possible. We can always use toys, treats, and other goodies, but right now we really, really need help paying for medical costs. Any donation can be applied directly to our rescue account at the vets office by calling (505)792-3700 or you may mail us a donation or donate via paypal on our website at Macaw and Cockatoo Rescue of NM.. Because we are such a small organization, we depend solely on donations to keep our doors open to birds like these. Those dollars we cannot raise via donations always come out of our own pocket. Please consider helping to sponsor just one of these birds. Our average cost for vet care is around $100 per bird. Birds with special needs or who need special testing, such as scarlet macaw Isabel can cost up to four times our normal amount. Whatever the cost, it is important to us that each of these guys gets the very best. If you cannot donate, please know that your prayers are most important to us and one little prayer for each of these will help them along the way!

Thanks for reading and take care!

-Anna

Update on NM Fish and Game's Importation List

NM Fish and Game has made amendments to their importation law concerning the regulation of parrots. Parrots have been moved from the most restrictive levels (level 3 which required a permit and level 4 which only allowed zoos and other professional facilities to keep them) to level 1, the least restrictive level (except in instances when the parrot species is considered threatened or endangered); level 1 requires no permit or other permissions be sought before bringing a parrot into the state. This means that we will be able to continue to work with parrots that need our help- both within NM and around the country- without any restrictions from NM Fish and Game.

After asking for imput from the public, the Dept of Fish and Game has revised the list of animals who's importation is resticted by the State of NM. For more information or to see the importation list, please consult the links below.

NM Dept of Fish and Game- Importation List.

NM Dept of Fish and Game- FAQS.

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